The Heart Behind Blue Eyes
by DarkFoxy
Summary: Five years after Battle-City, Seto Kaiba is depressed; feeling there is nothing left to live for, he lets a dream take over his life. But Yami sees something else in it. Can Yami bring him back to reality and show him that there is much to live for? YY-S
1. Nothing to Live For?

~The Heart Behind Blue Eyes~

***

  
  
  
  


~It's five years after Battle City, and Seto Kaiba has sunk into a deep depression; feeling that there is nothing left to live for, he is shocked by a vivid dream that promises him a return to happiness. But when this dream turns reality, his greatest rival realizes that he is merely spinning a new path to his demise, but can Yami save him from the deadly promise of happiness, bring him back to reality, and show him that there is much to live for? A Seto-centric fic, eventually S/Y.~

  
  


Okay, this is my first fic that I've had the guts to post on ff.net, so please don't flame it! Constructive criticism is welcome, and hyper reviewers are enjoyed (I can be one myself!). I'm making this a Yami/Seto fic, because I love this pairing (there are so many clues to it on the show, I swear!) and if you have a problem with yaoi, then sucks for you. But seriously, with this show, it is almost impossible for there to be het pairings because of the lack of female characters. I've only seen the English dub up to Yugi's duel against Joey (pathetic, I know), so I hope some of my ideas aren't incredibly off or outdated, I need to find a decent site so I can find spoilers! Suggestions would be great! ^_~

  
  


I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! The characters in this story, or anything else that has been patented! If I did then I would be insanely rich, I definitely wouldn't need to be writing fanfictions, and the show would be a little different, heh heh heh. So anyway, DON'T sue me because all you will get will be six fifty in loose change, my school supplies, and an enormous lawyer bill.

  
  
  
  
  
  


"Blah blah blah." indicates speech

'Blah blah blah.' indicates thoughts

...Blah blah blah... indicates flashbacks, or memories

*~*~*~*~* indicates the start and end of a dream

/Blah blah blah./ indicates yami and hikari talk to each other

Blah blah blah. indicates that the frivolous author is inserting some deeply insightful comment.

  
  


Hehehehe... anyway. The first chapter is kind of rambly because it has to set the mood of the story, and to establish why Seto is going to be acting sort of out of character in the rest of the story. Hopefully the later chapters will have more action and less beating around the bush... for the readers sake. ^_~ Thanks for taking the time to read my probably stupid fic, it means a lot since this is my first one I've ever let the public read!

  
  
  
  


Chapter 1: Nothing to Live For?

  
  


Hard, gray rain pounded down relentlessly, smashing on and around the glass and metal exterior of the huge building, KaibaCorp. Inside, Seto Kaiba, CEO of the massive company, drummed his fingers idly on the keyboard of his laptop and finally pushed away from his desk with a heavy sigh. He swivelled his chair around to face the broad window to his back, and surveyed the gray mass of city beneath him. Privately, he hated it when it rained like this. He felt like the sky was mocking him by echoing the true feelings in his heart. Yes, corny, he knew it. But at this point in his life he wearily even put up with his own dank reservations.

With a weak push, the blue eyed youth propelled himself forward until he was up against the thick sheet of glass that served as the fourth wall and the window in his office. The glass was cold and dead against him as he leaned his forehead against the clammy surface and gazed down, down, forty stories to the streets below. He watched spots of color in the forms of cars and umbrellas weaving their way through the network of streets. Strangely, he couldn't help feeling envious that all those people could be going about leading happy lives while he was stuck up there feeling miserable. He was about to resign himself to more work and turn back around when he caught sight of something.

Yes, two small figures running side by side, he could only tell by the flaming color hair of the one, a bright star of black edged in magenta with brilliant blonde bangs, and the other a dark, shaggy mop that could only belong to one person. At first a wave of irritation passed through Seto as he realized that his brother was running through the streets in the rain; he could catch his death pulling stunts like that! But then, his little brother was a far cry from the young squirt that Seto had needed to protect since they were left at the orphanage. Then another figure caught his eye. A few steps behind the running duo, was a taller form, with hair very much similar to the smaller version of himself ahead of him. But aside from first glance, the taller one was different. Three of the golden spiky bangs rose up his head like a crown, and his figure was lean and more finished than the other boy's.

'Humph,' Seto thought trying to school his attention elsewhere. 'There's no way I can see detail from way up here. I need to stop imagining things.' But already in his mind he saw the dark violet eyes of the taller boy, more angled and cruel than those of his double. Around his neck hung the golden Millennium Puzzle that had belonged to him in his previous life, and his voice was deep and commanding, not childlike or innocent at all.

Mentally cursing himself afresh Seto leaned harder against the glass and followed the small dot that was his brother with his eyes. At first he stayed sane thinking about how he would scold the afore mentioned brother once he saw him this evening, but gradually his thoughts slipped away, as a depressed mind often does.

What had he really accomplished in his life? Seto reflected on it glumly, leaning into the punishing cold of the window glass. He had swore to protect his brother and be a father to him when he was only six in the orphanage, and how had he failed at that? Bitter memories of times he had come across kids picking on Mokuba and had driven them off only after his brother was scratched up. The time when Pegasus had kidnaped him, and Seto had not only been unable to rescue him, but had ended up a prisoner himself, in need of saving by no less than his rival. When they had returned from Duelist Kingdom to face the big five, he had left his brother again when he fell into the trap. A second time Mokuba had turned to his rival, the tall violet eyed pharaoh, to save him, and in the final duel he had been powerless to help Mokuba when the five god dragon had fired on him. Without the help of his smirking rival, he would not have been able to save his little brother. At battle city he had stood by oblivious while his little brother was captured and used as bait, and once again that beautiful fierce eyed duelist had needed to come to his aide.

Seto shook his head vigorously at the last thought. Yes, Yami and Yugi, even more to feel bad about. Ever since he had been abandoned with Mokuba, he had striven to be the best in as many things as he could. Psychologists, that social workers commanded he see in order to become a legal adult at the age of twelve, had claimed that his goal to be the best was an unconscious protection against ever being abandoned or thought of as worthless again. Stupid therapists, he had charmed them more than they could analyze by the second session and he had received his legal adult station without an ounce of their help. But sometimes he wondered if what they had said was true. He had become enamored of chess at the age of seven, and successfully beaten the world champion by eight. He had become physically fit and risen to the apex of all of the martial arts classes he had attended and likewise bested high school champion wrestlers, runners, and swimmers. Finally, his obsession with duel monsters, how he felt the bond and kinship with the cards, how familiar they felt when they rested in his hands, his beloved Blue Eyes White Dragons, so similar to himself, how they would seem to rise in his deck to help him in a clutch. Ever since he had picked up a card and felt the power that beat inside of it, he knew that if he could just master them he would be happy. For a while he had, he had never lost a match and been the undisputed world champion, until Yami and Yugi came along.

There it was again, why did that dark eyed pharaoh and his little hikari always seem to invade his mind? Especially that arrogant pharaoh. Why did he always see Seto at his weakest, his most cruel? 'Why do I even car?' Seto thought ruefully. That perpetually smirking ruler was the only one that could always hand him defeat every time, and make him at the same time, more than he could be alone? They clashed at every meeting, and yet what a team they made when they came together. 

Furiously Seto bashed his head against the glass trying to rid the thoughts from his mind. He was unaware that tears had been pricking at his eyes and dampening his cheeks.

Yugi was a perfect young man, beloved by friends and adults, an expert duelist even when he wasn't melded with his pharaoh yami, and always willing to help and trust. He had befriended Mokuba and now the pair were nearly as inseparable as Yugi and the yappy Chihuahua Joey.

'Ah, Mokuba.' Seto thought sadly. 'I swore that I would always be there for you, and look at how many times I've failed you. Now you're growing up and you don't need me anymore.' Seto thought about his now sixteen year old brother, already independent, established in a circle of friends, going out with one of the popular girls at his high school. Mokuba certainly didn't need him anymore. His goal to be duel monsters champion again? The sly faced pharaoh was unbeatable and even though Seto knew his deck as well as the man himself did, there was no getting around that try as he might, he could not beat Yami. His company was prospering, and he barely needed to guide it now, Mokuba was learning the ropes and Seto had finally procured a board that was up to par with his expectations; after two years of training he barely had to check on their decisions to agree with what they said. 'Let's face it,' Seto closed his eyes, 'there really isn't anything left to live for.'

The brunette drew back from the merciless window, his deep cerulean eyes blind to the window wet with his tears. His mind in a daze he wasn't aware that he had pushed himself back to his desk and opened up the secret compartment in the bottom left hand drawer. In his hand was an elaborate dagger, honed sharp, and well kept by him. It was ancient Egyptian, a gift from the Moto's when Mokuba had thrown a surprise birthday party for his older brother four years ago. Seto had kept it well and his eyes caressed the keen edges of the blade.

With his right hand, his left still fervently holding the Egyptian relic, Seto pulled up the sleeve of his shirt and trench coat, baring his left arm, criss-crossed with scars and nearly healed cuts running from the base of his hand up a little past his elbow. Deep blue eyes scanned the pearly skin, noticing that he had been too consumed with his depression recently to relieve his stress by cutting himself. His face twisted into a bizarre mixture of smirk and grimace and he shook his head slightly, tears falling from his face unnoticed on to the glass top of his desk. Without really paying attention he switched the knife to his right hand and rubbed it gently across his skin, feeling the fine line of the metal, he almost thought that it was singing to him; singing of release from these feelings that he had worked so hard for fifteen years to hide. Raising the knife he struck down cutting a long fine cut near the base of his elbow. He inhaled sharply at the sting of the wound, but it was a sound of excitement, rather than pain or terror. The blade was true, and he had cut deeper than he meant to, but now his mind was urging him on. If one slice brought this relief how much more the next, and the next?

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that the next cut was short, a little to the left of the first and angled towards it so that the end met the middle of the first. Still, the feeling of euphoria and release coursed through him and he raised his chin and shut his eyes as the blade descended again, this time a more jagged line to the right of the first two and not touching. Distracted still he cut again, the top of this cut touching the top of the one before it.

Seto paused, not conscious of the blood that was welling out of the cuts and flowing over his arm. He jumped slightly as he thought he heard a noise from the room outside of his, but the knife nicked his flesh as he moved and he looked down, forgetting all else to survey his arm. The top half was red with his blood, the pearly flesh beneath hidden. Taken by the beautiful scene the blue eyed youth did not notice the pool of blood growing under his arm, all he knew was that he was feeling distracted from his feelings, he did not even think he was cutting himself too deep.

With a barely audible cry he struck again, four long deep wounds, close together. He rested his head against the back of the chair for a moment, a faint smile playing on his lips, but it wasn't enough. He opened his eyes for the first time to the damage he was doing and he saw the big cruel wounds, and his arm clothed in a thick sleeve of red, the pool of blood now deep on the tabletop and dripping off the side into the carpet at a steady flow. He realized that he had cut himself too much, the wounds would need attention to heal, he should call an ambulance now that he saw the amount of blood he had already lost. But with a strange knowing smile he looked down at the Egyptian knife. 'How fitting,' he thought, his head now light, the room fading in and out of his vision, the edges of the picture a rippling black, 'once again he defeats me at my own game, but I cannot stop here, not yet.'

With a cry of exultation he struck down for the last time, feeling the slide of the blade through muscle and veins, and the release of fear and tears as he slumped forward on the table, his chest sliding on the glass slick with his life blood. He was barely conscious of a banging noise, and a rush of cool air against his face. With a sly grin on his proud face, he faded out of consciousness thinking simply, 'then again, perhaps I have won this time Yami.'

  
  


***

  
  


Alright, I'm sorry to end the first chapter here since it's all short and bad, but I really wanted to post the first chapter soon, so I cut it short and decided to make the next part the second chapter. Besides people would stop reading if they thought that the whole story was as boring as this chapter! I want people to like my work! Remember, please review and be kind to a new writer!  


Chapter 2: Too Much Responsibility

Kaiba is rescued before he can take his life, but this brings up even more problems than before.


	2. Too Much Responsibility

~The Heart Behind Blue Eyes~

***

  
  
  
  


Okay, this is my first fic that I've had the guts to post on ff.net, so please don't flame it! Constructive criticism is welcome, and hyper reviewers are enjoyed (I can be one myself!). I'm making this a Yami/Seto fic, because I love this pairing (there are so many clues to it on the show, I swear!) and if you have a problem with yaoi, then sucks for you. But seriously, with this show, it is almost impossible for there to be het pairings because of the lack of female characters. I've only seen the English dub up to Yugi's duel against Joey (pathetic, I know), so I hope some of my ideas aren't incredibly off or outdated, I need to find a decent site so I can find spoilers! Suggestions would be great! ^_~

  
  


I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! The characters in this story, or anything else that has been patented! If I did then I would be insanely rich, I definitely wouldn't need to be writing fanfictions, and the show would be a little different, heh heh heh. So anyway, DON'T sue me because all you will get will be six fifty in loose change, my school supplies, and an enormous lawyer bill. Oh yeah, and I don't own tic tacs either!

  
  
  
  


"Blah blah blah." indicates speech

'Blah blah blah.' indicates thoughts

...Blah blah blah... indicates flashbacks, or memories

*~*~*~*~* indicates the start and end of a dream

/Blah blah blah./ indicates yami and hikari talk to each other

Blah blah blah. indicates that the frivolous author is inserting some deeply insightful comment.

  
  


Alright, I know the first chapter was a little weird, but some of that will be explained in this chapter. For example, I know that Seto wouldn't be able to see anyone from the fortieth floor, but he's so obsessed right now (if you didn't notice he mentioned Yami in practically every other sentence) so he's half living in his head. I'm so happy that I got reviews already! Wow! Here's the next chapter that I promised. I love you Solitaire and Silver Mist4, my first two reviewers! Thanks for taking the time to read my probably stupid fic, it means a lot since this is my first one I've ever let the public read! Oh yeah, and I had to re-upload chapter one because I can't figure out how to get italics or other stuff in my post, so I had to change some things, nothing major.

  
  
  
  


Chapter 2: Too Much Responsibility

  
  


Seto Kaiba's early thirties, no-nonsense, bespectacled secretary was on her way back from an exceptionally good lunch date when she happened to glance at her watch. With a jolt, she realized that she was running five minutes late, with the KaibaCorp. building still at least as many minutes away. Quickly forgetting all about the black haired Ian she had just taken leave of, she began running through the mall her heartbeat speeding up to a rapid pace. Shaking out her nondescript KaibaCorp. umbrella she shoved unceremoniously through a knot of people and sprinted out into the pouring rain.

As Cinda, for that was her name, galloped through the streets, slipping in puddles in her low heels, she began to furiously reason with herself just why she had taken this job. All of her friends could easily come in from lunch on a rainy day five or ten minutes late and only deal with a few words of reprimand if anything; but no, she worked for Seto Kaiba, a man who would simply fire her if she was lucky. She had heard tales of workers leaving in tears, men and women alike, after they had annoyed their young employer, and she was wishing heartily now that she had not accepted the position no matter how much money it paid.

Panting for air, Cinda reached the grandiose front doors of the KaibaCorp. building and she threw herself in the doors, sliding comically on the tile floor in her wet shoes. Heedless of the stares and titters from the customers in the lobby (any worker in the building new full well what she was going through and had performed similar antics on various occasions), Cinda sloshed to the 'employees' only elevator and frantically began pressing the button for the fortieth floor. She growled menacingly at other workers as the lift was stopped at the third, tenth, twelfth, twenty-first, and thirtieth floors, earning her mumbled curses and grudging space. Finally the elevator beeped, announcing that she had reached her destination and she squeezed through the doors before they were even all the way open.

Reaching her desk Cinda collapsed in her chair, realizing dully that she was soaking wet, had somehow lost her umbrella in the mad dash through the rain, her shoes were ruined, and there were no notes or messages on her machine. She breathed in sharply. She had been dreading a message from her hot-headed employer, but somehow the lack of one was even more intimidating. Unwelcome memory surfaced of a time the CEO had stated, "When you've failed at something, I would try to come to me before I come to you, or else you might find you're out of much more than just a job."

Cinda's calm demeanor was shot, and she was hiccuping with nervousness as she stared blankly at her desk. Something was definitely wrong here, and she knew with a sense of dread what she had to do. Suddenly she heard a click and the red light that signaled that the young man in the next room wanted to speak with her flashed on. Before the tone that accompanied the light had ended it's note, Cinda had crashed into the doorway with strength of desperation and exploded into her employers room the words 'FORGIVE ME I AM NOT WORTHY!' on her lips... but they never came.

Before her eyes was a sight that deadened any feelings or thoughts she had just been experiencing. She fell onto her hands and knees and vomited violently, then backed up against the wall trembling with fear and shock.

The massive glass wall behind the desk leant a silhouette-like scene before her, the smooth surface of it spattered with drops of blood. The soft cream colored carpet was a dull red below he glass desktop, and the desk itself was only a surface seemingly covered by a red blanket. A dark form was collapsed on the glass, one shoulder resting against the button that lit up the light and tone by her desk. One arm was stretched out straight, merely a mass of crimson and darker scarlet, the shirt rolled up past the elbow. The other arm was beneath the body, a blood stained blade of some sort resting just inches from the fingers. The head itself was turned to the side, vermillion coating the side of the face on the table, an almost sadistic smirk of triumph plastered on the pale face.

Cinda began to cry and shudder uncontrollably, she didn't know what to do, only minutes before she was worried about her job and her reputation, now there was a mangled corpse in the same room as her; she felt like a lost child. Then she heard a raspy sound coming from the body, this gave her enough strength to wobble to her feet. With a sort of morbid curiosity she crept closer until her shoes were at the edge of the blood soaked carpet. It was indeed her young employer, but she couldn't tell if it was he that had made the sound. Coated so in his own blood she was ashamed of how frightened she was to see if he was alive. But then he stirred slightly and she heard a pathetic rasping in his through that sounded oddly like, "I've won... Help me Yami..."

At the utterance of the sounds she reeled back and fled from the room, slamming the door behind her she picked up her phone hastily dialing 9-1-1.

"Hello? Police, we need an ambulance right away to the KaibaCorp. building, fortieth floor. It's urgent." She didn't wait for any sort of reply, she had already let go of the phone and had fled to the bathroom where she sat hunched over in a corner crying for her sanity and her shame.

***

The Moto residence was quiet, with an air of expectance. The clock on the kitchen wall proclaimed that it was seven p.m., and a thin layer of dust darkened the cheery pale green counter tops.

With a bang, the front door was thrown open, and the happy laughing forms of Solomon, Yugi, and Yami Moto tumbled through the door, accompanied by a snorting Joey and a Tristan specimen that seemed to be choking on his own spit. The three Moto's staggered into the kitchen still laughing hard enough that their sides ached, Joey merely rolled around on the living room floor pointing at his disgruntled friend. Yami and Yugi dragged themselves back into the living room and collapsed on the sofa, and Solomon followed soon after carrying with him a large glass of water and two boxes of tic tacs. No one noticed the flashing light on the telephone that signaled that they had a message.

After fifteen minutes of Tristan guzzling down water and crunching tic tacs, the living room calmed down significantly. Joey, however, was milking the opportunity to the dregs, and Tristan was looking as if he had recovered enough to start a wrestling match on the floor.

"I told you that eating the double, garlic, onion, jalapeno, horse radish, deep fat fried shrimp, combo wasn't worth the prize, but NOOO you had to go and do it anyway!" The blonde was now jeering from his seat in a plush green armchair opposite the couch that Yami and Yugi were seated in.

"Just shuttup, ALRIGHT!" Tristan growled hoarsely, rubbing his throat and glaring daggers at his supposed friend.

"I mean, come ON. Not only did you eat the entire thing but you forgot the stupid prize in your mad dash to get out of the pit stop!"

"I said COOL IT JOEY!" Tristan shouted. Joey merely continued to giggle.

Solomon Moto rolled his eyes and smiled at his grandson and the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle.

"I think that this old man is going to go into his room and read for a while. A road trip with four noisy teenagers isn't exactly prescription for an old guy like me." He rose and went into the kitchen.

/Yami, do you think we should try to separate those to?/ Yugi's eyes sparkled evilly as he watched Tristan head lock Joey and get kicked in the shin.

/I think that those to would need an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet to distract them./ Yami's thoughts held a hint of mischief not normally associated with an ancient spirit. The two would have conversed farther, but Solomon Moto came into the room, a strange expression on his face. The two boys looked up at him expectantly.

"Yami, I think you should come into the kitchen for a moment." Yugi noticed that his grandfather's voice was tight and careful not to reveal any inner emotions. The hairs raised on the back of his neck as he exchanged glances with Yami before the taller boy rose from the couch and followed the older man into the kitchen.

"What is it grandpa?"

"There was a message on the phone for you," the gamekeeper's eyes were tired and wouldn't meet Yami's, "something about Kaiba. Here listen to it, and then I'll take you down to the hospital."

Yami took the phone in shock. Kaiba? Of all people, why was he in the hospital, and why was he, Yami, involved? He pressed the message replay button and held the phone up to his ear.

"Mr. Yami Moto, this is the Domino City Hospital calling in regards to a Mr. Seto Kaiba. Mr. Kaiba is currently in our care, and we would like to have a few words with you. Come immediately once you are home. Officials at the hospital will explain in more detail. Good day."

The emotionless voice cut off, and Yami lowered the phone filled with curiosity and a bit of dread. He nodded silently to the other man, and followed him towards the car.

/Yami? What's going on?/ Yugi asked through their mental link.

/I'm not really sure Yugi. I have to go to the hospital, something about Kaiba./

/Kaiba? Why would they need you there?/ Yugi's thought was tinged with worry.

/I wouldn't know./

"Well I'm coming too!" Yugi said a he rounded the corner and confronted his yami and his grandfather by the car. With a heavy sigh, Yami gestured for him to get into the car with him. "Joey and Tristan are popping some popcorn and are going to watch a movie." Yugi added as an after thought. His grandfather nodded and pulled out of the drive way.

The ride over was silent, each man brooding over the reason why Yami's presence was required at the hospital. Solomon Moto dropped the two boys off at the entrance and left to try to find a parking space, telling them to go on without him. Upon stating his name at the desk, the receptionist gave Yami a strange unreadable look and gestured for him to wait in a plain white room two floors up, down the right corridor, third on the left. Silently, the two followed her directions and entered the room in time.

After waiting about five minutes an important looking man in a dark gray suit, followed by a slightly balding gray haired doctor, and a nurse practitioner, entered the room and sized Yami up with a glance.

"Yami Moto?" The tone was hard and indifferent.

"I am Yami Moto." Yami stated, looking the man in the eye. He felt the older man bristling at the tone.

"Who, may I ask, is this then?" Gray suit turned accusing eyes towards Yugi.

"He's my friend." Yami growled through clenched teeth. "Are you going to tell me why I'm here or not?"

With a quick change of tactics, gray suit ignored the fact that Yugi even existed on the face of the earth and favored Yami with a distasteful smile.

"Mr. Moto, what exactly are your relations with a Mr. Seto Kaiba?" His tone was slightly sneering, and his eyes boring into Yami's were condemning.

"My relationship?" Yami huffed. "There is no relationship. We are acquaintances, nothing more."

"Acquaintances. Really." Gray suit scowled darkly at Yami. "Was it not you that handed Mr. Kaiba his only duel monsters defeats? Have you not attended school with Mr. Kaiba now for about five or six years? Have you not-"

"If you know all his, then why bother asking me?" Yami snorted and refused to look the other in the eye. The manner of the man really rubbed him the wrong way, making him feel rebellious and testy.

"Perhaps I wanted to see how sincere you are, Mr. Moto." Gray suit growled. "I would advise that you cooperate fully, it will make procedures much simpler."

"Do I have the right to remain silent?" Yami snapped back, his dark violet eyes flashing.

"Enough Brutus," the balding doctor interjected with a sigh. "You, young man, are not on trial, but it is a good idea to cooperate with us in this particular case. Now Brutus, perhaps we had better take them to see Mr. Kaiba before we continue." The doctor pulled at gray suit's sleeve, shooting him a keen sideways look. With a grunt, the big man walked through the doorway, the doctor following.

Yami glared after the retreating back, tempted to remain behind simply to annoy. The nurse practitioner smiled at him reassuringly. "It's ok hun, Mr. Tivon is under a lot of stress right now. Just follow us if you please." She beckoned to Yugi to come as well, and grudgingly Yami followed suit.

After losing count of the doorways on either side of them, Yami was relieved when the party stopped in front of a door in a relatively quiet wing of the hospital. As they stopped a pretty young blonde nurse slipped out of the door, looking at gray suit and the doctor appraisingly, she handed them the clip board she was holding, then walked away.

"This is Kaiba's room?" Yugi asked tentatively.

"This is Mr. Kaiba's room," Gray suit snapped, "You will have to wait outside, Mr. Moto's friend." He shot a deadly glare at Yami as he said this. With a sigh he balding doctor placed one hand on gray suit's elbow, and he seemed to relent. "Fine, can't do much more harm if you wait inside."

Gray suit and the doctor opened the door with quiet care, as if they were afraid it might explode, and Yami watched them in curiosity. He was already confused that Kaiba would be in a hospital at all, the brunette was a master of martial arts and scorned public places despite the amount of money he donated every year. With one last glance at the nurse practitioner who was clearly waiting to leave until he was inside, Yami followed into the darkened room.

Dim light filtered through the slatted shades of the window beside the bed. A form was lying crumpled in the sheets, a UV tube attached to his right arm, and various wires attached to the stack of machines beside the bed monitoring his heart rate, blood pressure, brain activity, and other things. On a dry erase board on the wall was written a time sometime the next day when the patient was supposed to have a second blood transfusion.

A second blood transfusion? Yami started as he realized that the defeated form in the bed was indeed the arrogant youth he knew as Seto Kaiba. He turned and saw the sadly triumphant expression on gray suit's face at Yami's reaction. Now silent and professional, he handed the clipboard to Yami, gesturing with his eyes that he was to read it.

Scanning the heading, Yami saw that it was an observation chart, things that Kaiba had said or done as he wove in and out of consciousness. He was startled as he realized he saw his name many times. After being brought to the hospital around one thirty, he had rambled on about seeing Yami, Yugi, and Mokuba running in the rain from his room on the fortieth floor. Later he had said quite clearly in the middle of his blood transfusion, "Yami, can't you help me?". Just a few hours ago he had claimed that he saw Yami standing outside of his room, and why didn't he just come in or stay away from him. Yami trembled, for he knew that he had only arrived from a road trip half an hour before.

He lowered the clipboard to look at the expectant faces of the doctor and gray suit. Yugi looked at him curiously, and he felt the desire to read the clipboard tugging at him through the mind link, but he handed the clipboard back to the doctor, determined not to let Yugi see it. He didn't know why he was so embarrassed, but this revelation made him feel weird.

"Wh-what happened to him?" Yami managed to stammer out.

"What happened is a knife that reportedly YOU gave him, Mr. Moto." Gray suit was easing back into his personal dislike for the smaller overconfident young man.

"What?"

"Perhaps you noticed that young Mr. Kaiba has already had a blood transfusion, and is scheduled for a second one tomorrow morning?" Yami nodded dumbly. "He was discovered at one fifteen p.m. in his office, near death from extreme blood loss and shock."

"He...he cut himself?" Yugi quivered as he spoke, looking for some sort of sign from either of the three other men in the room. but no answer came.

"Mr. Moto we called you here for a number of reasons." Gray suit said in a low voice. "Come here Mr. Moto."

With grave solid strides the burly man strode to the side of Kaiba's bed. Numbly Yami felt his body jerkily following him. Beside the bed he looked down at Kaiba's face, strangely innocent, his chestnut locks damp with sweat and tears, his skin two shades paler than before, eyes squeezed tightly shut. Gray suit regarded him closely for a minute, then reaching out a hand, he twitched the cover off of Kaiba's suspended arm.

Yami wheeled back in shock, falling to the floor, his face a world of horror, pain, and disbelief. Suddenly, he bolted from the room, he shoved roughly past Yugi and the doctor. Blood pounded through his ears as he sprinted unseeingly through the hospital. He had no idea how he found his way out of the maze of hygienic hallways, but he was then out in the cool crisp night. Racing down the street he felt tears of guilt and confusion wet his cheeks. When he finally collapsed he was panting for air, and sitting alone on a moonlit hill in the park. Sorrowfully he looked up at the rising moon, still unable to believe what he had seen.

For, upon the baring of Kaiba's arm he had seen the cruel knife slashes, stitched closed over the gray skin, and the ten wounds had spelled out his own name: YAMI.

  
  


***

  
  


Bwa-ha-ha! A bit of a cliffhanger! I'm so proud of myself that I managed to type up this whole chapter in one afternoon! I hope that this chapter wasn't too corny, but I'm trying to get in some of the angst stuff on Yami's side as well as Kaiba's. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up some time this week, but school is probably going to be really uncooperative! If I had it my way all school would be is a place to socialize and do sports. Anyway, hope people like my fic!

  
  


Next Chapter: Cry For Help

Yami confronts Kaiba once he is feeling better, but will he be overwhelmed?


	3. Quick Author's Note

~The Heart Behind Blue Eyes~

***

  
  


Author's Note:

Ack! School is so stupid! I wish I could just sit at home and write, play with my animals, do stuff with my friends, and occasionally take classes that I 'wanted' to take. Not stupid stuff like phys. ed and computer literacy. For god's sake, I'm typing on the freakin' computer aren't I? But anyway.

I'm hoping to have the next chapter up by Monday at the latest, I'm sorry! I didn't want to leave any readers hanging so I figured I'd just let you know that I'm working diligently on HBBE during boring lectures of Chemistry and World Civ. I have my first Cross Country meeting tomorrow, so I'm super excited! Well, enough about my boring life. Please try to stay with this fic! I'm updating as fast as my free time (or procrastination, depending on how you look at it ^_~) will allow!

  
  


~DarkFoxy


	4. A Cry For Help part I

~The Heart Behind Blue Eyes~

***  
  
  
  


~It's five years after Battle City, and Seto Kaiba has sunk into a deep depression; feeling that there is nothing left to live for, he is shocked by a vivid dream that promises him a return to happiness. But when this dream turns reality, his greatest rival realizes that he is merely spinning a new path to his demise, but can Yami save him from the deadly promise of happiness, bring him back to reality, and show him that there is much to live for? A Seto-centric fic, eventually S/Y.~  
  


I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! The characters in this story, or anything else that has been patented! If I did then I would be insanely rich, I definitely wouldn't need to be writing fanfictions, and the show would be a little different, heh heh heh. So anyway, DON'T sue me because all you will get will be six fifty in loose change, my school supplies, and an enormous lawyer bill.  
  
  
  
  
  


"Blah blah blah." indicates speech

'Blah blah blah.' indicates thoughts

...Blah blah blah... indicates flashbacks, or memories

*~*~*~*~* indicates the start and end of a dream

/Blah blah blah./ indicates yami and hikari talk to each other

Blah blah blah. indicates that the frivolous author is inserting some deeply insightful comment.  
  
  
  


Alright, I'm so sorry guys! To anyone that actually reads my li'l fic, they would probably know that I promised the third chapter to be up by Monday... and it is definitely Tuesday night right now. But very truthfully I have been SO busy, and I just managed to write part of this chapter so I'm putting up half of it now, and half of it later when I get a chance to type it up! I'm so sorry, but I didn't want to leave this story all alone until I got the entire chapter up, so you'll have to settle for two parts. Anyway, this would have been a long chapter so this might be for the best! Seto acts a little out of character, but that's only because he's really shaken up, and keep in mind what he's gone through in the past week. But he'll act more Kaiba-like soon. He's still getting over his... oh I'll just let you read the fic! ^_~  
  


Chapter 3: A Cry For Help (Part I of II)  
  


The pale blue light flicked over the floor of Yami's room, the lightning outside giving tantalizing glimpses of darkened corners before vanishing. Though Yami had not spoken of the event, the incident at the hospital had been on his mind almost constantly over the past week. Yugi had pestered Yami about it for a while, but had eventually given up the task as hopeless when met with Yami's close lipped grimace.

Sighing heavily, Yami turned over onto his side and squeezed his eyes shut, willing sleep to come. 'Damn him,' Yami thought viciously as his body refused to cooperate with his command to sleep. 'Even when we're not facing each other he manages to make my life miserable. Why the hell did he do... "that"?!' Frowning into his pillowcase Yami moaned with frustration.

Ever since he had set eyes on the blue eyed boy's wounds, Yami had been puzzling and berating himself, trying to find a reason in him that he would be so involved in Kaiba's destruction. The brunette had seemed fine just a few days ago before they had left for the camping trip and they had stopped by to borrow a rain fly from Mokuba. In fact, the CEO always seemed fine. What had brought about this sudden descent?

From the first time Yami had laid eyes on Kaiba, the blue eyed brunette had seemed powerful; confident, capable, strong, intelligent, besides his lack of revealed feelings he seemed to live a model life. The boy was tall, one of Yami's own personal gripes, had passed through high school and college with flying colors even graduating early, he was filthy rich and owner of his own company, and hardly ugly to look at. In fact, Yami reflected on Kaiba, he had noticed but never admitted how good looking his rival was. Whenever he looked into those striking blue eyes, so much like the dragon that Kaiba loved so much, Yami's heart tingled and he felt the tiniest of memories from ancient Egypt. If only he could remember what had happened; all he could piece together from his scraggly glimpses into his past was that he and Kaiba had been close, how close he didn't know. Yes, they had even been rivals then, for Yami had seen the minutest flashes of duels, and the competent smirk that always graced the boy's delicious lips when he dueled. Yami shook this last thought off quickly; if there had been something between him and Kaiba in his past life, it was gone. The blue eyed boy had impassable barriers, and was too cold and aloof for anyone to develop feelings for beyond attraction.

Finally feeling the first tugs of sleep against his eyelids, Yami decided that he would confront Kaiba about it tomorrow in the hospital; Yugi had told him that the brunette was recovering and was scheduled to return home within a week. Nodding firmly against his pillow, the game king let all thoughts out of his mind and drifted off to sleep, keeping only the vague hope that more glimpses into his past would be revealed inside his dreams.

***

In the gloomy halls of the hospital, Seto Kaiba's door looked as nondescript as all of the others. But inside, the patient was tossing and turning, thrashing and crying out softly as he fought with some unseen force in his dreams. With a single louder cry that echoed in the room, the boy's brilliant blue eyes flew open and he sat up straight in his bed breathing heavily. 

For a moment Seto was disoriented, glancing around his surroundings curiously, before it all came back to him and he felt the dull pain his left arm under the heavy bandages that he was forbidden to remove. Sighing deeply, the brunette turned his eyes towards the window beside his bed, twitching the cord that hung from the shades with his right hand. Cool blue/white moonlight streamed over the bed, kissing his sweat dampened body, and placing comforting arms along his hot skin.

Seto loved the moonlight, it reminded him so much of his precious Blue-Eyes White Dragons. Some people might snicker that a person favor a card so (though surely never at him since he could easily see to it that they never had a pleasant life thereafter), but Seto often felt that he had an odd sort of deep connection with his dragons. His Blue-Eyes were the pride of his deck and his heart, but even the lesser dragons called to him, which was why he kept so many of the cards in his deck. Yugi and Yami would preach about heart of the cards, and Seto had laughed and scorned them in his past years, but had also come to a grudging agreement. Though he never labeled his feelings as 'the heart of the cards,' his belief in his deck had proven to surprise him, his cards, especially his beloved dragons, seemed to rise through his deck to his hand as he needed them, and it had gotten so that he expected one of his mighty Blue-Eyes to come to him whenever he wished it to come.

Seto shook his head wearily and with one last dose of moonlight, let the slats of the shade close again. In the darkened room he felt strangely alone, as if he was again a little boy sitting in fear of the dark. The CEO forced himself to smile about that; imagine being afraid of the dark, it was merely the absence of light. Light... wasn't that what Yami and his other ancient Egyptian friends called those bozos that had released them from their Millennium items?

Quickly frowning Seto shoved himself violently back down onto his hospital bed. Why was it that the infernal Pharaoh always seemed to creep into his thoughts just when he was acting like a normal person again? He roughly raked his right hand through his sweat-dampened hair, and glowered at the foot of his bed where the observation note folder was kept, currently empty.

Using his advantage, that the nurses seemed to find him attractive even in his current state, Seto had pieced together what had happened to him: His breakdown; the crazy rants about seeing Yami where he couldn't possibly be; cutting himself almost to the point of death, they still wouldn't let him see the self inflicted wounds; the sluggish recovery until suddenly he had returned to himself and the healing process sped up. That stupid Pharaoh had even managed to penetrate his madness!

'Ra! I bet if that arrogant king-of-games had never appeared in my life I would be perfectly normal!' Seto fumed. Suddenly he paused with interest. Had he actually just said the word 'Ra' as an exclamation? Being the over educated genius that he was, he naturally knew about the Egyptian god, but had never thought of him in such a context before. Frowning, he tried to will his thoughts back to more 'Seto-ish' topics. Whenever that idiot came up Seto just started going crazy again. He would have to stay even farther away than he had before. He already didn't know what had possessed him to bare his arm to that knife anyway. The world wasn't good enough for him to die for. Pleasing so many people by passing out of existence was not something he wanted to do; he could still show up any other company with his technology, so why stop at monopolizing Japan? Besides, even Yami wasn't worth killing himself over. 'UGH! There he is again! Will he never leave me alone?!' Seto pulled at his mahogany hair in anguish and bared his teeth to the darkened room.

'There may be nothing to turn to, not even death, but I'm Seto Kaiba. I WILL find a way!' With these stubborn thoughts firmly implanted in his mind, the blue eyed boy meditated on his new mantra until his eyelids drooped and he slipped into an uneasy sleep.

*~*~*~*~*

The blue eyed teen opened his eyes feeling much refreshed, and blinked as he realized he wasn't in the hospital any longer, but lying on some sort of cold stone floor and surrounded by dim darkness. Hastily he rose to his feet and turned around, trying to ascertain how he had gotten "here" and what "here" was.

Spinning around again, Seto saw that the stone floor was old worn blocks with some sort of ancient writing, what looked like small pictures, etched on the weathered surface. The darkness seemed illuminated in the place where he was standing, and as he strode away from the place he realized that the light seemed to be radiating from around him.

For what seemed like an hour, Seto strode with false purpose through the darkness, searching for some clue as to where he was, and what the dimensions of his prison were. Though Seto hated to admit it, he was growing more and more uneasy, and his sense seemed to be playing tricks on him. It felt like the air around him was ancient, and that a feeling of anticipation and power was slowly permeating the air and building up pressure throughout his mysterious prison.

Suddenly Seto froze in mid stride and listened. He was sure he had heard something, he felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. Then he heard the distinct sound of a scuffing, as a shoe on stone, and the whisper of a swirling cloak through heavy air. Seto whirled around on one foot and raised his arms defensively... but there was nothing there. Keeping his arms up, he slowly scanned around him.

The slightest noise of a snicker or a giggle came from behind him, and once more he spun around. Raising his arms and centering his balance, prepared to fight if someone should shw themselves, he failed to notice that his arm no longer hurt, and the few pounds he had dropped in the hospital were recovered.

Now a light tinkling laugh sounded, directly behind him. He wheeled about faster than he could think and cocked his fist to strike, before stopping dead in his tracks. No one was there. Puzzled, he glanced all about him, but saw no sign of another living thing.

"Seto Kaiba..." A mysterious and alluring voice seemed to pulse from the very air.

"Who's there? What do you want?!" Seto growled trying to locate the origin of the voice. He was faced instead with another chime-like laugh.

"What do you want Seto Kaiba?"

"I want to know who you are, and what I'm doing here." The CEO didn't feel like being pleasant and he continued to scan his surroundings. This time there as a slightly deeper laugh, both amused and prophetic.

"I am someone that wants to help you Seto Kaiba... And you are here because you need me."

"What?" The brunette was outraged at such a presumption.

"Come with us and you can live without pain or remorse, without the burden of a broken heart or the stress of an image to maintain. Come with us and you can be truly happy... and so then shall we." At the end of this mysterious recitative, the lower laugh seemed to be joined by hundreds of others, but so faint that the boy could only hear the new depth of the sound.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Seto said sulkily crossing his arms across his chest.

"You will soon, for we are here to serve you. When you are happy our spirits soar, when you are sad we cannot move for depression, and when you are angry we rally with glad hearts to be your allies. Soon you will understand how we serve you, Seto Kaiba. Soon..."

"Enough of this nonsense, what are you talking about?!" Seto screamed into the darkness, sensing that the voice, backed by hundreds of others, was fading away.

"This is not the end Seto Kaiba, it is the beginning. Perhaps next time you will understand better. Farewell Seto Kaiba... remember that we were always here for you, through all these years. Don't forget, I charge you to remember, Seto Kaiba. Farewell."

"You haven't answered any of my questions! I want to know what you mean!" Seto was now screaming as loud as he could his shoulders shaking with frustration, but he slowly felt light coming his way, and the fading of the presence. With one last shout of rebellion he disappeared from the dark place.

*~*~*~*~*

Seto Kaiba, CEO of KaibaCorp. (blue-eyed, brunette, child prodigy, genius), opened his eyes and saw the sterile white tiled ceiling of the hospital. His mind raced with the strange vision he had seen, and he bit his lip thinking about it. Glancing over to his left he saw a tray that carried what the hospital tried to pass off as breakfast, and a further look at the clock displayed the time as 10:30 in the morning.

Frowning slightly, the blue eyed boy brushed his chestnut hair away from his face, and sighed into the palm. It certainly was a strange dream, and it didn't even have to do with Yami this time.

'RA! Why can't I go for a simple day without that arrogant know-it-all butting into my head! Next thing I know I'll be seeing him in places he can't be again.' Still fuming, Seto jumped as he heard the door open. His eyes widened to the size of biscuits as he watched the very Pharaoh he was cursing shuffle uneasily through the door.

"RA! I didn't mean it!" The brunette shouted, not noticing how the Egyptian boy jumped back in surprise against the side of the wall. All he was conscious of was intense disgust with himself, only furthered as he realized he had just used 'Ra' as an explanation twice in the last minute. "Dammit you accursed illusion!" Seto screamed at the form of Yami backed up against the far wall, not caring who heard him in his state. "Why can't you leave me alone and let me be normal! Ra, why can't you- DAMN!" Flopping back in furious frustration in his hospital bed, Seto gripped his mahogany locks with his right hand and proceeded to mutter his mantra from the previous night as he counted the ceiling tiles for the forty-eighth time.

Yami stared at Kaiba incredulously, wishing in vain that he had never decided to come. He had thought the doctors had said that Kaiba had returned to normal and was inside the hospital merely to monitor his health and keep his bandages fresh, soon to be released. But this was clearly not a sane person.

Looking over at the blue-eyed boy, Yami easily admitted that Kaiba was scaring him. He didn't know what he had expected as a reaction to his presence, but this certainly wasn't it. He wondered faintly if he should just leave, but at the same time the hardened ruler in his mind told him to stay and carry through with his objective. Unhappy with his own determination, the former Pharaoh walked hesitantly across the floor until he was standing beside Kaiba's bed.

As he looked down at the boy, Kaiba's gaze flickered to his face for a second, before his eyes widened even further (if possible) and his muttering became more intense and frantic. Frowning, Yami reached out a finger and gently prodded Kaiba's upper arm before speaking.

"Kaiba? Um... are you... alright?"

What Yami expected as a reaction to these words, he wasn't quite sure. But once again he was surprised and ended up flattened as hard as he could against the back wall.

Upon the physical contact of the Pharaoh's finger and Kaiba's shoulder, the brunette had let out a shrill shout, jumped in the air about six inches (Yami hadn't even known that was possible when lying down), and come down in a sitting position. Now he was gazing at Yami with a plain mixture of fear, embarrassment, and disbelief written across his usually stoic face.

"Ohmygod," Kaiba's finally stated. "You did just touch me right?" This last part was added in a voice that clearly conveyed how half of him hoped that Yami's answer would be 'no.'

"Yes-" Yami answered slowly, not daring to leave his post against the wall.

"AGH!" The brunette hit himself smartly on the forehead with his free right arm, before looking up at Yami with an expression of apology and embarrassment. He seemed a totally different person as he looked at the Egyptian, his emotions clear to see like any other person... an intriguing development in the eyes of the former Pharaoh.

"I'm so sorry Yami, it's just-" The boy broke off, looking confused and torn between revealing a secret and keeping it safely hidden. He finished awkwardly, "-I'm not quite myself. I had a strange dream last night, so I reacted to you a little strangely." His explanation sounded more like a question than an answer, Yami thought blandly. He wondered what Kaiba had been going to say.

"Well..." The king of games was lost for words. Faced with a Kaiba that seemed capable of feeling, and feeling sorry, he wasn't quite sure of what to make of his situation.

There was an awkward silence, in which the blue eyed boy looked everywhere bu at Yami, his face bright red from embarrassment. Yami chose to study the CEO, trying to decide what it was that made the boy so different.... so, strangely... appealing. The former Pharaoh shook his head at this thought, and made up his mind to say what he meant to say, hear the answers he wanted to hear, and leave the hospital as soon as possible.

"Kaiba, I-"He started. Unfortunately at the same time the brunette was trying to say 'So, what-". They both halted again, flustered. Finally, Kaiba gestured clumsily for Yami to go first.

"Kaiba, I came here..." He faded off again. The luminous blue eyes had finally turned to him. he depths of them were strangely frightening, but so entrancing that he thought he could get lost in them. But what stirred him the most was in the deepest recesses of those eyes, he saw fear of the words he was about to utter. He stuttered, and coughed into his hand, stalling for time. All the while those blue eyes never left him. "Kaiba, I came here to find out why I was... so prevalent in your... accident." The former Pharaoh spat out the statement with little grace, and rebuked himself internally for it. He glanced at Kaiba to see his reaction.

Oddly enough, the reaction seemed more thoughtful than repulsed, or angry. The youth turned his head to look out between the slats of his window, the sunlight streaming down his profile and seemingly combing through his thick mahogany hair. Yami twitched as he felt deja vu, seeing a similar vision of the boy, but the shadows on his face were not from shade slats, but through the leaves of a tree. He wondered at this, then stored it in the back of his mind to puzzle about later.  
  


***  
  


Heeheehee, am I evil? I tried to stop at a part that wasn't too exciting so I wouldn't have a huge cliffhanger, but there really wasn't anywhere to stop at all! So I just stopped it here because I'm tired and I want to go to bed, and this was the most un-cliffhanger-ish spot that there was around that time in my typing. I'll have the next part of the chapter up soon! THANK YOU TO ALL REVIEWERS! I love this feeling of having reviews, I'm still a little nervous about flames, but so far so good! I'll thank you all personally in the second part of the next chapter, but my eyelids are droooooooping right now so I have to stop!

Review Replies! (I know, laaaaaate. I just wanted you guys to know how much I appreciate you taking the time to review!)

Solitaire-I think I cleared up the 40 stories up thingy with the second and third chapter but thanks for telling me, keep that up in the future. I have been known to make incredibly stupid mistakes and feel just as incredibly stupid when alerted to them!

Silver Mist4-Yay! Thanks for loyally reviewing! It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy knowing that there are people that will actually 'continue' to read and review the story! A 10/10 story so far? You flatter me! I hope the story is still up to par!

Rosabell-Yea, isn't it annoying when you get all excited because you see that there's been an update, and then it's just an author's note? I hate that! Heh heh, I just had to see what it was like at least ONCE in my career! Thanks for reviewing!

Shadowheart378-I'm just like you? I guess that's good... I don't know, I'm pretty weird at times... ^_~ but then again, perhaps great minds think alike! (I can hope) Thanks for reviewing!

Cartas-Wow! You flatter me so much! It means so much to hear people say that I can actually write! I hope that I wont become one of those 'quiet lately' authors. It bugs the heck out of me when my favorite stories don't get updated. I'm trying, I'm trying people! I never realized how stressful this writing stuff could be!

ssjmiraitrks-It's good to know that I can keep readers on their toes, without making them hate me! I'm writing as fast as-(okay, maybe not as fast as I can, but I need a life too) I can, so the updates are coming!

Meloncrisp-Thanks for the feedback! I didn't mean to have Mokuba left out of this, I assumed in my head that he was concerned and by Seto's side as often as possible, but I just kind of left that out of the story. Sorry! I'll put him in more, I don't want it to seem like he doesn't care! As of right now, not a lot of people know about Yami's name being written on Seto's arm, Seto himself doesn't know it because he hasn't bothered to check and the doctors don't want to say anything about it until his condition is more stable. Before they release him from the hospital, they are going to make him got to counseling about it, but he's going to find out soon enough on his own.

AngelicSlayer-Kaiba rules! He's the best character! I'm continuing this fic as quickly as my poor brain allows, and if you check my profile I'm planning on writing some more soon! So, will I be expecting three reviews for every chapter from now on? Just kidding! ^_~

Thanks again reviewers! Nothing stokes the writing process like reviews! Hint hint wink wink nudge nudge.


	5. A Cry For Help part II

~The Heart Behind Blue Eyes~

***

  
  
  
  


Okay, this is my first fic that I've had the guts to post on ff.net, so please don't flame it! Constructive criticism is welcome, and hyper reviewers are enjoyed (I can be one myself!). I'm making this a Yami/Seto fic, because I love this pairing (there are so many clues to it on the show, I swear!) and if you have a problem with yaoi, then sucks for you. But seriously, with this show, it is almost impossible for there to be het pairings because of the lack of female characters. I've only seen the English dub up to Yugi's duel against Joey (pathetic, I know), so I hope some of my ideas aren't incredibly off or outdated, I need to find a decent site so I can find spoilers! Suggestions would be great! ^_~

  
  


I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! The characters in this story, or anything else that has been patented! If I did then I would be insanely rich, I definitely wouldn't need to be writing fanfictions, and the show would be a little different, heh heh heh. So anyway, DON'T sue me because all you will get will be six fifty in loose change, my school supplies, and an enormous lawyer bill. Oh yeah, and I don't own tic tacs either!

  
  
  
  


"Blah blah blah." indicates speech

'Blah blah blah.' indicates thoughts

...Blah blah blah... indicates flashbacks, or memories

*~*~*~*~* indicates the start and end of a dream

/Blah blah blah./ indicates yami and hikari talk to each other

Blah blah blah. indicates that the frivolous author is inserting some deeply insightful comment.

  
  


Ok, I know this is a short chapter, but it's just the second part of the fourth chapter really. It was kind of hard to get out, and really not as well written as I would have liked, but hey otherwise I wouldn't have put this out at all. Hopefully people like it, I know some have been waiting for it.

  
  
  
  


Chapter 5: Cry For Help Part II

  
  


Yami returned his thoughts to the Seto in the present, noticing that the brunette seemed now more perplexed than anything.

"Kaiba?" Yami tentatively reached out a hand to touch the other boy's troubled face. A little surprised at his own daring, Yami watched the CEO's face register shock, then quickly snapped back to his usual cold emotionless mask. Recognizing the boy that he knew as Kaiba, not the mysteriously appealing stranger, Yami removed his hand and arranged his face into his own concealing facade.

There was another awkward silence, Seto's mind reeling behind his cold blue eyes, trying to figure out how he had managed to show his own rival the side of him he reserved only for Mokuba and solitude. Yami, relaxed now that the attractive stranger Kaiba was gone, finally broke the quiet with a sigh.

"Well, are you going to answer my question?"

Kaiba snapped out of his reverie and glared at the Egyptian boy. Yami rolled his eyes in frustration, saying finally, "Well then, I'm going to the cafeteria to get something to drink." He stood up and crossed his arms, looking down (for once!) on the blue eyed boy. "Is there something I could get for you?"

Seto's mind was still racing and he shot Yami a searing look. The former Pharaoh nodded curtly then turned to go. Relieved to be able to escape the awkward situation, if only for fifteen minutes or so, Yami strode toward the door, pausing to look back over his shoulder at Kaiba.

"Coffee, not the black water they serve up here." Kaiba wavered after his sudden speech, he hadn't really meant to say anything to the other boy. Yami's shape swam in his vision as he felt his headache returning full force. Hesitantly, he added, with a gleam of the stranger Yami had glimpsed before, "...if you wouldn't mind..."

Yami barely nodded to the other boy, then spun and fairly fled from the room.

***

When Yami finally turned his footsteps back towards Kaiba's room, admittedly after much more time had passed than it should have taken him to get a drink, the coffee cup in his hand had cooled to no more than a gentle warmth. Yami felt more than a little uncomfortable visiting his rival in the hospital like this; all around him he saw patients being visited by loved ones and family, but he was distinctly neither. Mokuba had come to visit Seto as often as his schedule could afford, but besides him, Yami was the only other to come. With a sigh, the past Pharaoh continued towards the dreaded confrontation.

As Yami came up to the room, a nurse was leaving, a look of slight regret upon her features. She paused when she spotted him, and seemed to consider for a moment before grabbing his arm and pulling him forward.

"Great, I gave him his medicine just a few minutes ago and he'll be feeling a little strange right now. I should be staying with him, but they need me in ER, so just stay with him until he falls asleep, and don't upset him. Thanks, bye!" All of this came out in one breath, double time, and Yami barely had time to nod before she was running past him down the hallway.

Yami shook his head as his mind registered what the nurse had said. Wondering why he had just agreed to stay with the very boy he had sought to escape only minutes before, Yami steeled himself to at least fulfill his promise; he liked to think that he was a man of his word.

Hesitantly Yami opened the door to Kaiba's room and stuck his head in. Kaiba, unaware of Yami's presence, had his head turned towards the window again, his neck exposed and vulnerable. Taking a deep breath, the reluctant Pharaoh stepped fully into the room. He didn't know what was really wrong with him, but something about this different Kaiba made him feel out of control.

The blue eyed boy didn't appear to have noticed Yami's entrance, his eyes seemed slightly glazed as he regarded the sunlight. Unwillingly, Yami felt his eyes tracing the fine lines of the other boy's neck and the pearly skin that was exposed in that particular position. He shook his head roughly and walked to the side of the bed and sat down.

"K-Kaiba?"

It took a couple moments, but the other boy let out a gentle sigh and slowly turned his head towards his companion. His wide blue eyes closed as he moved, and Yami couldn't help observing the way the sunlight caught ever lash, and brought out a luminescence to the skin that he had not previously noticed.

"Ummm...?" Kaiba slurred, turning his head towards Yami and blinking his eyes twice like a baby deer.

Taken aback, Yami stuttered then tried again. "Um, uh, Kaiba are you-I mean, here's your coffee." The Egyptian boy thrust the cup out before him like a warding charm. The other boy slowly transferred his gaze to the cup, and wrinkled his nose in confusion. Quickly Yami set the cup down beside the bed and retreated a couple steps away from the bed to where he was more comfortable.

"Where you going?" The blue eyed boy looked intently at Yami, his face full of innocence. With a gulp Yami shook his head.

"I'm just-" he cast around and his eyes landed on a chair, "getting a chair!" He pulled the hospital folding chair over and sat himself down in it quickly, inwardly rebuking himself. He was acting like a complete idiot, he wanted more than anything to just leave or to- ...that was just it, he wasn't sure what his other feeling was. Filled to brimming with confusion and awkwardness, Yami glared at the floor, letting his emotions wheel in spirals around his mind.

"You're the only one to visit me. You know that?"

Yami looked up quickly, though the same strain of innocence was laced through Seto's voice, it now sounded more conscious and less drugged. He stammered back awkwardly, "Uh, what about Mokuba?"

"Yes Mokuba..." Seto trailed off and cast his gaze sadly at the far wall before continuing. "Mokuba is inestimable, I don't think I deserve him at all really."

"That's not true Seto," Yami said gently, "Mokuba loves you as much as you...uh, love him."

"No no no," Seto said in a faint voice, "Mokuba loves everybody and I'm just his creepy older brother."

Yami sat in silence at that comment. Sure, Seto acted the way he did, but he never realized there might be some remorse behind that cold countenance. He decided not to press the matter, having a conversation with the infamous Seto Kaiba was something that was already unimaginable.

"No one could like me besides Mokuba," Seto was continuing, as if he didn't notice Yami's silence, "I'm not likeable, it's not possible to like me..."

Stunned at these further confessions, Yami remained silent, simply staring at the now unfamiliar Seto Kaiba laying before him.

"It's lonely being Seto Kaiba."

This comment caused Yami a jolt. Something in that one statement was so piteous and so different than the image he had fixed in his head as Seto Kaiba. He knew there were other emotions inside the other boy's brain from earlier conversation, but now he was finding that Seto Kaiba had a heart...albeit discovered under the influence of hospital drugs, but Yami wasn't thinking about the details at the moment. He scooted his chair up next to the hospital bed.

"What? Aren't you going to go away?" Seto sulked accusingly, looking up at Yami through his lashes.

"No, I'm here for another half an hour."

"Hn."

"Do you want me to go?" Oddly enough, that was something that Yami didn't feel like doing at the moment. He waited almost nervously to see what the blue eyed boy would say. There was a long pause, where only the slightly slurred sound of Seto's breathing broke the silence, before he let out a small noise and almost unperceptively shook his head. Yami felt himself smile slightly, and he leaned forward so he could look at Seto better.

"I think you just hate me too." Seto glared up at Yami in a childish way. "Don't you." It wasn't even a question.

Yami felt a strange emotion stumble and run a lap through his system. "Of course I don't hate you," Yami stammered, still momentarily disoriented by the strange feeling, "It's just-"

Somehow, in the fraction of a second Yami was seeking to formulate the next word he ended up about an inch away from Seto's face. He could feel the other boys warm breath caressing his face, and his eyelids felt heavy, and slowly closed.

"Y-Yami?" Seto asked in a small voice.

The Egyptian boy made a small murmuring sound in the back of his throat, and suddenly found himself lip to lip with his rival. He was about to jump back, but in the split second of shock he was overcome with an incredible feeling of rightness; a spark that he just couldn't bare to put out. He leaned in deeper, and moved his lips gently against the other boy's, coaxing a reaction.

Seto, though drugged and not 'all there', knew that something strange had just happened so lay there in shock. He couldn't quite figure out what to do and was about to say something when Yami's hands came up to either side of his face, caressing them. Even in a drugged state, or perhaps especially, this was hard to resist, and Seto found his eyes closing and himself slowly submitting to the kiss. Yami rumbled in satisfaction, and gently traced the other's mouth with his tongue, politely asking for entrance. Still sluggish, Seto's lips relaxed, and Yami managed to coax them apart. The brunette tasted so sweet, and with a strong dash of spice, Yami couldn't help himself as he pushed himself up to sit on the hospital bed.

His senses hazy, Seto was starting to respond more deeply to the kiss, and his own tongue flicked out hesitantly to meet Yami's, the two performing an intricate dance as they sparred together. Finally, they broke apart, hovering millimeters away from each other as they took in hasty breaths.

"Y-Yami? Wha-" Seto started to stammer.

Suddenly Yami jumped upright, the actions for the past few minutes finally registering in his head. what was he DOING? He looked down and saw Seto's confused face, and he quickly looked away. What the hell had happened? What would he tell people? What was he supposed to say? Submitting to flight instinct alone, Yami turned and sprinted out of the hospital and all the way home. Once in his room with the door locked, he sat on his bed with his head in his hands. What had happened back there?

  
  


Now don't get angry with me. There's a plot to this story after all. I honestly am working on writing, but I'm so busy and midterms are quite literally next week. AAAGGGHHH!

  
  


Replies:

  
  


Silver Mist 4-I don't think it's as good as the others, but here's the next chapter. Thanks for reviewing!

Meloncrisp-Yeah, you thought the last chapter was late, huh? I feel bad, very bad, I am ashamed. I tried to put a mention of Mokuba in, we'll see more of him when Seto goes home, and at this point the writing on Seto's arm is kind of confidential. They don't want to upset Seto so he doesn't even realize it yet.

AngelicSlayer-Hmm, three reviews, was your computer acting up? Thanks for thinking the story is good, I love Seto, he's definitely my favorite character.

shadowheart378-ACK! I'm sorry, here's the next chapter!

Seto-Kaiba's-fan-I'm glad it's interesting!

Kiraya-Thanks for dropping a review, I guess Yami was kind of a helpful/unhelpful character in this chapter, but there will be more in the future.

Yugi Mutou-Here's the update!

Chibi Angelic Slayer-I'm glad that it's a read and re-read story, I was hoping it wasn't the type of story that gets read once and trashed. The good ones can be treasured over and over again!

Wind Dasher-oops about the car thing...heh heh, we all have our typos. I definitely feel privileged that you are putting me on your favorites! Wahoo!

Sunrise-Thank you, I'm glad you like it!

Lomelindi-thank you so much! Your flattery really touches me, and I love your writing as well! I know I don't review as much as I ought to, but I often have to break up the reading because of my busy schedule. Boohoo, the world would be so much better if I could just sit here and write! I haven't really decided on a seme uke thing yet, there are distinctly two different groups pushing for opposite things so I'm staying out of it for as long as I can!


End file.
